After council member Mark Freeland resigned in September, the council asked for applications for that position. The deadline to receive those applications was Friday, Oct. 6 and six people applied.

Travis Auger Sr., Laurence McMullen, Bruce Froelich, Steven Mayberry, Claude Babcock and Richard Stengenga all applied for the position.

At the council meeting on Monday, Nov. 19, Montague Mayor Kevin Erb recommended that the council leave the seat vacant. Since this is the last year of a four-year term, the council wasn’t expecting to receive six applications, and had a hard time deciding because they were each qualified, Erb said.

They had a work session last week and were discussing each of the applicants, but with less than a year before the election, they decided to just wait and see who runs, Erb said.

“We have six very qualified candidates who will hopefully run for election next November,” Erb said. At the next election in November 2013, there will be three seats open; Randy Lydens’, Hap Cederquist’s and Freeland’s seats will be open.

Erb said that if the term would have been longer, the board may have chosen someone to fill the seat. He also said he thinks that there won’t be any decision that would come down to just one vote.

The council is legally allowed to leave the seat open. The only seat they would have to fill in a time limit would be the mayoral position, which would have to be filled within 30 days.

Jeff Auch made the motion to leave the seat open until the next election and Tom Lohman seconded the motion. The motion passed 6-0.